The Devil Sits Ringside
by Emo Owl
Summary: An internship with the world's greatest bot designer is the best thing that could ever happen to an aspiring bot designer.Or so Piper Hatton thought. Turns out fetching coffee isn't going to be that easy. TakxOC
1. Deal with the Devil

"I want you to take me on as an intern." I stated plainly as I leaned on the work bench.

"I don't take interns." He replied bluntly in his scratchy accent. His deep voice resonated in the tiny office. I briefly wondered why he wasn't in a bigger room on the newer side of the stadium, but then I realized this was probably a lot more private.

"I know." I replied honestly.

"Then why are you here?" He stressed as he picked up his pencil and made a few notes in Japanese next to some of his calculations.

"Because you're going to take me on as an intern." I answered smoothly. Tak Mashido glanced up from the plans he was working on and gave me a look of confusion. It was definitely a rare move for him, even if his expression wasn't that different from the emotional mask he usually wore. He quickly covered the slip by schooling his face back into its normal expression and returning his gaze back to the page.

"I graduated from MIT with a 4.0 in mechanical engineering and computer programing. I have won numerous bot design competitions and numerous fights as a controller. I am capable of doing everything from designing and building to getting coffee and dry cleaning." I listed. He looked completely unimpressed.

"There are others with the same credentials and more experience." He paused. "Get out." He commanded as he reached for the pencil again.

"You haven't heard the last reason Mr. Mashido." I broke in cuttingly. He put his pencil down with a snap before leaning back in his chair, obviously waiting for an explanation.

"One day you're going to need a new bot design and you're going to need someone you can trust to help you build it." I stated. "Zeus crushing everything in sight is great for business, but how long is that going to last? Technology changes; I mean, just look at how far things have come since the G1 bots. One day Zeus is going to meet his match and you need a new bot for when that happens or it's going to like the Noisy, Rubicon fight."

His whole body tensed and I waited for an explosive reaction. I had heard his temper wasn't pretty, and that mentioning Noisy Boy was one of the worst things you could ever do in front of him, but I decided to do it anyway to see if I could push him into this. Was it a bad idea? Probably, but I didn't care how loud he yelled at me, or what he threw at me, as long as it worked.

"And you think, that out of all the young guns that try to be bot designers, that you are the one to help me design my new bot?" He growled. I almost raised my eyebrows in shock at the fact that he hadn't thrown me out for merely insinuating that I could be on his level, but I managed to control my facial features.

"Your creation is yours. It's not my place to step in and tell you what to do, but I do want to learn how you build bots in the league. I realize my chances of having a job working on building a bot like Zeus are slim, but I would like to work in this industry." I answered honestly.

He paused for a moment to mull it over. I was afraid he had forgotten me when he closed his long fingers on the pencil and began drawing on a piece of paper. I stood awkwardly as he scribbled away. He eventually finished a drawing of the inside of a bot arm and tossed it in my general direction. He didn't even look up to see if I had it as he started writing notes in the margin of his already completed designs.

I managed to snag the page before it went off the end of the work bench without wrinkling it too bad. Spreading it out on the bench, I noticed several design flaws in the design. Careful not to be obvious, I snuck a glance at Tak. He was completely focused on the notebook in front of him and didn't seem to care one way or the other if I passed his test.

I absent mindedly chewed my lips as I reached for a pencil. The drawing was quickly done without a lot of detail, but the parts were clearly identifiable. I carefully circled several of the mistakes and then added in my corrections. I looked over it at least three times before I was satisfied I had caught everything and handed it back.

He took it from me without a word and scanned over it before placing it on a pile of scratch paper. My heart sank when he didn't reply. I felt sick as I turned to leave since he was so obviously dismissing me.

"Name?" He asked.

"Piper Hatton." I answered quickly.

"West entrance 5:30 a.m." He ordered quickly.

"Thank you, sir." I replied as I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

And with that, I knew I had been dismissed.

Excitement coursed through me as I shut the door behind me and turned down the narrow, gray hallway. The smile I had been containing tugged at the edges of my lips. I had gotten an internship with Tak Mashido. He was going to do everything possible to make my life a living hell to ensure I didn't come back the next day, but holy shit; Tak Mashido.

I was one step closer to my goal of being a bot designer. All I had to do was survive. I could make it; I was tough, but this was going to be a different challenge entirely.

League bot designers rarely took interns, and if they did, the interns life was usually a living hell. Tak Mashido was the only one that hadn't had at least one, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I knew of a lot of students that had tried everything imaginable to get a spot on his team. Everything short of breaking in a back door and showing up in his office, of course; that was probably because the idea was nothing short of insane. A move like that could get you banned from the fights forever.

Maybe all it took was a little tenacity to get on his good side. Either that or he was going to make an example of me so all of the aspiring bot designers would stop stalking him.

**AN: Super random story idea. I loved the movie Real Steel, and I liked Tak's character. I know he's a little OOC here, but next chapter it will be better. Also, next chapter will have background information so it's not so confusing. **


	2. Day 1: Intro to Hell

Five thirty was crisp and cold. It was also the exact moment that Tak Mashido pulled up to the entrance in a white 2020 Tesla Roadster.

He looked different that I usually saw him in the interviews; instead of a sharp, expensive suit he was wearing dark jeans, a charcoal sweater over what I'm pretty sure was a black wife beater, a jacket, a scarf, and a knit hat. He looked like such a hipster; it made me feel over dressed in black dress pants and a white blouse.

I didn't have long to contemplate my outfit choice of the day; the second his foot was on the ground outside the car he was tossing the keys to the valet. I straightened my spine as he stalked over towards me in a long stride. I opened my mouth to offer a greeting, but I was cut off by him yanking off his jacket and tossing it at me.

By the time I pulled it off of my head he had the door open and was disappearing through it with the same stride.

_It's going to be a long day._ I thought as I took off after him.

He completely ignored my presence as he made his way towards the Lemkova suite. I had to practically jog to keep up with him, which brought quite a few stares from the janitors who looked like they were praying my heels didn't mark their freshly cleaned floors. No one else was here to stare at this hour; the polish lobbies of the boxing complex were almost completely. It was a strange sight to me since I had only been here on fight night.

"The new parts for Zeus are arriving at nine, they need to be taken in, unpacked and prepared for inspection. I'm expecting a call from Japan, which will need to be forwarded from my office to my cell, also coming around nine. I want a medium t-bone steak, with mashed potatoes and broccoli from that restaurant downtown at noon for lunch delivered to the work room, and reservations made at that seafood place for and early dinner at six thirty. Grande sized black coffee from Starbucks in my work room in no more than fifteen minutes." He listed off as we reached the door to the Zeus suite. He pulled a card out of his chest pocket and swiped it over a sensor at the side of the door. It slid open and he continued inside and up the stairs without breaking his stride.

Nervousness spread through me as I tried to remember his every demand. The Starbucks was all the way across town and there was no way I could get his coffee and make it back in time. He was also leaving out important specific pieces of information and asking me to be in two places at once. Fabulous.

At the top of the stairs there were two doors. Tak turned to the one of the left and swiped the card. He hit the door with a clothes fist and it swung inward easily. As the lights above hummed to life, I got a good look at the inner workings of Tak Mashido's design process. The modern glass desk was covered in sticky notes, some in Japanese and some in English, all lined up and color coded. A thick brief sat in one corner containing who knows what.

Unsure of what else to do, I pulled out a coat hanger and put his coat up in the closet. I glanced up to see if that was what he expected me to do, but he was walking across the huge office to his desk. He sat in the desk chair and tapped on the computer screen. It rose to life quickly under his fingertips. He pulled up a calendar that was covered in memos and to do lists. Without looking at me, he flicked his hand at me to come closer. Nervously I edged over until I was standing beside him.

"If it's in red, it's for you to do. If it's black, it's my schedule. You would do well to memorize my schedule and start working on what you have to do." He told me as he stood up.

Just as he was half way out of the chair, his shoulder struck a low shelf and a box tumbled to the floor, spewing papers when it hit the ground. He glanced down at it as he sidestepped around the desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a key card and tossed it to me.

"Those haven't been scanned yet. I expect them reorganized and put back in that box." My heart sank as I stared at the mess at my feet. "You now have ten minutes to get that coffee." He commented. My head snapped around towards him, but he had already disappeared out the door.

Unsure of what else to do, I pulled out my phone and called a friend.

"Yo, Lace. What's up? I haven't heard from you in a while." An old high school friend's voice began.

"I need some coffee. How quickly can you get it to the arena?"

Z

My breath was coming out in pants by the time I burst through the door of Tak's work room. He glanced up from a tablet where he was doing something with a stylus to take in my disheveled appearance. He raised an eyebrow and went back to his tablet.

"Do you have the tea I asked for?" He asked as he continued poking at things on the screen.

"Which kind would you like?" I asked, pulling the drink carrier from around the door and holding it up so he could see it. He finally looked up from the tablet with a look of confusion plastered all over his face.

Luckily Tak wasn't the first boss I've ever had that tried to make me quit on the first day; I had had another person pull that on me and the first time I fell for it. This time I was smart enough to know better.

He motioned for me to come all the way inside. When I made it to his desk, he plucked a cup of green tea out and flicked his hand in dismissal. Without a word, I backed out the door and closed it behind me. Once I was out of his sight, I pulled the black coffee out of the holder and handed the rest to a janitor I passed.

My to-do list swirled in my head as I made my way back to the Lemkova suite. Organizing those papers was going to take forever and he was still expecting me to be in two places at once. Making reservations was easy; I was going to call every seafood restaurant and then several other restaurants in case he decided he wasn't feeling seafood. Lunch might not be perfect, but he'd get his steak. Getting the phone call and the order was the issue.

Oh well. I still had three hours to figure something out.

Z

"Piper, I can't understand how this is so difficult for you. Monkeys can be trained for this." Tak's deep, scratchy voice grated on my nerves.

"It's because you are intentionally asking me to do the impossible." I almost snapped with an eye roll that was thankfully blocked by the curtain my dark hair formed as it fell over my shoulder. He snorted.

I was sitting in the middle of his office floor holding a soldering iron, surrounded by pieces of scrap metal. It was rather difficult to make an outer panel of a robot's torso out of the scraps without using a tool other than a soldering iron, which Tak decided he wasn't going to allow. I was stuck putting them together like a jigsaw puzzle as he played a game on his phone and occasionally made snide comments.

It was only four in the afternoon and I had almost been degraded to frustrated tears and least three times. Each impossible task was followed with an even more impossible task. He was throwing in random traps and hoping that I'd fall into him. He'd succeed for the most part, but he hadn't reduced me to quitting yet.

I finally caught a break when a knock sounded at the door and the Farra Lemkova stepped in. Her perfectly done eyebrows arched in surprise as she took in me sprawled on the floor trying to layer pieces of scrap metal. I bit my lip nervously as I looked up at her, unsure of whether I was supposed to introduce myself, or if Tak was going to do that.

"Tak," Farra began without looking away from me. He cocked his head slightly in response, but he gave no other indication that he heard his sponser. "Who is your friend?" She cut her eyes at him, but he still hadn't looked up.

"I'm—" I began.

"She is an engineer who is trying out for a spot as an intern." He interrupted.

"My name is—"

"I doubt she will be continuing in this position." He interrupted me again. Farra glanced at me once more before her eyes settled on Tak.

"We need to leave for dinner." She began, completely ignoring me once she realized how unimportant I was.

"Reservations for two were made at the five star seafood restaurant three streets over, but they were also made at the Italian restaurant on Broad street, and also the little seafood restaurant on the bay. The last one is small, but the food is good, it's the off the beaten path, and the restaurant owner is willing to give you more privacy than the other two were." I stated as I went back to playing with sheet metal.

"I need to change before the fight." Tak commented.

"I picked up your dry cleaning. It's hanging in the closet beside your coat." I told him as I lined up some of the metal pieces exactly as I wanted them.

When I had soldered them in place, I glanced up to see Zeus's dream team staring at me.

If Tak had read my resume, he would have seen that I was used to jobs like this. I had spent every summer since I was twelve working in my parents' law firm. They were usually in court, so that left me to do things like pick up dry cleaning and organize schedules. I had also had internships in a variety of fields because I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up; my bosses ranged from generally nice people, to people who tried to trip me up for fun. Tak fell into the latter category.

"The last one sounds nice." Farra finally stated.

"I will call and let him know to expect you." I told her as I attempted to bend the metal into the shape I wanted it over my thigh.

"Are you sure she won't be here long?" Farra asked.

"I'm positive." He responded darkly. I snuck a look at his blank expression.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

**AN: Is Tak OOC?**


	3. Day 2: the Appearence of Satan

The next day I couldn't keep my eyes open while I was waiting for Tak. He had sent me home right after the fight so I didn't have to go to the after party. I had gotten more sleep than he had, but I was dragging a lot more than he was; he stepped out of the Roadster looking just as fresh and awake as he did the morning before.

I straightened up as he walked towards me. I was expecting him to brush past me like he did the morning before, but he actually stopped in front of me. I offered him his tea and he took it before offering me a nod and striding through the arena doors like he owned the place.

The lobby was filled with twice as many janitors as the morning before as they tried to scrub up the heel marks and signs of the thousands of people the night before. Staff from the different boxing teams dragged their feet as they walked around finishing whatever they had to get done before they left. They looked as tired as I felt.

I was so distracted watching the other people, that I wasn't paying attention to where Tak was leading me. He took me in the opposite direction of his office in the Lemkova suite. The hallways kept getting less and less populated as he dragged me down weird hallways and down sketchy stair cases.

The arena was old. It was built as an effort to revive interest in human boxing towards the end of its decline in popularity. It was used for a few years until robot boxing started popping up in America. Sensing that they had to adapt or die, they closed it and started making adjustments. The robot boxing arena was practically built on top of the human boxing arena. The halls Tak was dragging me past the rooms that had been turned into workrooms and into the areas that were once weight rooms for human boxers.

After I was hopelessly turned around, he stepped through a door labeled 'Men's Locker Room' and held the door for me. My nose wrinkled at the smell off old sweat socks and mold that still lingered in the humid room. I glanced around for any clue as to why Tak had dragged me there.

My search for anything boxing related was cut short when Tak grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against a wall. I gasped in shock and clawed at his hand, but he brushed me off like I was a fly. He wasn't holding me hard enough to hurt—he was only putting a little bit of pressure on my shoulders with is open palms-, but I was terrified. I dared looking at his face, and saw he looked livid. I squeaked in fear.

"Where is your wire?" He snapped.

"What?" My voice came out sound like a field mouse.

"Your wire. Any sort of recording device." He clarified. "I don't want to search you for it, but if I have to I will."

"I'm not a spy!" I screamed as I pushed at his hands.

"You were a journalism minor with an internship at the Chicago Sun writing about robot boxing. You got a call from your old boss four days ago. I looked up your phone records." He spat through gritted teeth. "The same man that has sent reporters all over this arena trying to get an inside look at Zeus."

"I will be shot before I work for that bastard." I screamed. "He called me for something the other day, but I told him to go to hell before I figured out what it was. Please let me go." His grip loosened, but my back was still firmly pressed against a wall.

"Why should I believe you?" He asked.

"I got the journalism minor in case I couldn't make it as a designer. I kept my internship hoping I would have a sure-thing job after I graduate so I could support myself while I tried to get into this industry. I lost it when I wouldn't sleep with that bastard." It all tumbled out in a hysterical, high pitch.

"Do you have any connections with any of the other papers?" He demanded.

"No." I started sobbing. "He had me blacklisted. I can't find a job. Please believe me; I really need this." He examined my face for any sign of a lie before he lightly patted down my stomach and lower back where a microphone would be. He flipped my collar up and checked under my lapels for any sign of one.

The anger slowly vanished from his face as he took in what I said and the fact that I wasn't wearing a wire. His grip diminished on my shoulder and I slid down the wall without the pressure holding me there, sobbing into my hands. A minute later I heard the fabric of his silk suit pants rustle and I felt him gently pulling at my wrist.

I moved my hand to the side and looked up at him through my lashes. He had dropped to a knee in front of me on the dirty floor. His was still borderline expressionless, but he looked almost apologetic.

"You will continue to work here." He finally spoke. "Though, you will not touch Zeus for a long time. You will learn how to handle the other side of being a designer, and then you will learn what it takes to build the best bots."

I nodded at him. "Thank you," Another sob wracked my body.

"Stop that." He commanded. He sounded ridiculously uncomfortable. I attempted to suck it up, before another sob came.

He wrapped a hand around my bicep and pulled me to my feet.

"Your job here is safe. Go home and pack for Atlanta. A car will be sent for you." He prodded me out the door into the hallway. I held it together as he led me back out of the arena. He must have felt guilty because he walked me all the way out to my car and only left after I was safely inside.

Once I saw him disappear back into the area, I started sniffling again. Tak Mashido's temper was scary hell.

But I couldn't really blame him for being angry. My exboss was a persistent bastard and would probably send someone to dig through Tak's trash if he thought it might lead to a story, and everyone knew it. Tak was known for being private. I had already pushed my way into his life by invading his personal office where he was hiding from everyone; it wasn't a hard stretch to believe I was working for him. Now he knew it wasn't a possibility; or at least I hoped he did. He was probably double checking everything that I told him.

I knew exactly what I signed up for. Tak was a hard person to deal with. He was a complete social recluse who didn't deal with people. I'd probably never hear a good job, a thank you, or a sorry from him ever. He didn't care about much except for his robots; Zeus was his proudest achievement and he'd do anything to protect it. I began to wonder if he would ever trust me enough to let me actually touch Zeus. If he didn't, then this was almost a completely waste of time.

_Almost_. I reminded myself. Six months with Tak and I could have a job with anyone I wanted. Five months, 3 weeks, and five days left.

**AN: This chapter wasn't meant to show Tak as violent; it's meant to show how reclusive and protective he is of Zeus. He'll be more likeable next chapter.**


	4. Day 3: Annoying as Hell

Day 3

I turned around in the mirror as I contemplated the appropriateness of my outfit. I had on cream linen pants that flowed out to the summery brown leather wedges at my feet. The waist went all the way up to my belly button and tied with a little linen sash. My mint green, flowy button up shirt was tucked in. I had twisted my bicep length dark brown hair into a messy side bun and put a light brown, shimmery shadow over my green almond shaped eyes that were now framed by brown eye liner.

It was a pretty outfit; it was comfortable and nothing was too tight or too flashy. It just wasn't what women on the Zeus team wore. It was more like a go-for-a-stroll-in-the-park outfit then an office outfit. I had plenty of those that I could just toss on, but I was curious; exactly what would Tak let me get away with?

Pushing his buttons was stupid; I was still shaking from his anger when he thought I was screwing him over. I constantly reminded myself that he wasn't going to hurt me, that he only meant to scare me, but it wasn't working. He had only pressed me against the wall with open palms and raised his voice, but what if I hadn't been able to convince him I wasn't going to turn over everything I learned to a newspaper? We were alone in the basement of an arena far away from even the janitors. He probably would have had time to kill me and hide the body before someone walked into that part of the building.

My phone buzzed from the tray on top of my vanity and I sighed before picking it up. It from the same number as the one the night before that told me travel details like how long we would be staying, what I could take on the plane, itinerary, all the crap I hoped to have assistants to deal with when I became a designer. It might have been Tak's number, but I doubted he would use his own personal cell phone since he didn't trust me.

I tossed my phone in my bag after reading the one word text; all it said was "outside". Whoever was on the other end of that was defiantly laconic enough to be Tak. I took my time fixing myself in my floor length mirror. I fixed every misplaced hair and carefully applied concealer to all of the obnoxious blemishes that had popped up from the stress of working for Tak. Since he caused them, he should have to wait on me to fix them.

I quickly changed my mind on that when a car horn sounded and I realized the driver was perfectly capable of driving off and leaving my ass. I stopped primping and snatched my purse and my carry on off of my bed before I practically threw myself down the stairs, barely remembering keeping my footing in my shoes. I barely remembered to grab my suit case from beside the door as another honk sounded.

"Took you long enough." Growled Tak when I finally slid into the back seat. He didn't even bother looking up from his little handheld game.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I glared at him behind my sunglasses. Today he had decided to show up in black skinny jeans, boots, and a black wife beater with a scarf and his stupid knit hat. Maybe I worried too much about looking unprofessional; this hipster could not dress himself if he wasn't wearing a suit. I'd have to find another way to push his buttons.

Z

The flight went fairly smoothly. Farra was waiting for us in the hangar, speaking into her cell phone in rapid Russian. She switched to English for about three minutes to quiz Tak on Zeus's transport, then she went back to her phone and Tak went back to his video game. The only time either of them stopped was during takeoff. After that, the game didn't leave Tak's hands for any reason and Farra continued her conversation over Skype on the planes wifi.

I was horrifically bored, but I couldn't sleep because of the Russian chatter and I was stuck beside Tak who had long arms, bony elbows, and no consideration about the fact that he stole my armrest. I had to refrain from pinching him to make him move.

I was a cranky bitchy by the time we made it to the hotel. Farra's suite was ready, Tak's suite was ready, and everyone else on the Zeus team had rooms waiting for them. Tak apparently made my reservation himself, and he insisted that he told the woman the right date, but for some reason it was for next month. The woman working the front desk attempted to tell me that I was going to have to share with someone (by this the snobby, bony horse faced bitch meant Tak) or find another hotel.

I not so politely informed the woman that perhaps she shouldn't be allowed to take phone calls and that if her roots weren't so dark I would have assumed she was a natural blonde because a reservation for the next month was idiotically illogical since I was part of the Zeus group. Grudgingly, she gave me a first floor room next to the Coke machines.

I snatched the keys away from her and stalked off towards my room. I was about to put the key card in the door when a hand reached out and pulled it out of my grasp. I squeaked and jerked around, ready to fight off any attacker, when I realized it was just Tak.

"He will be taking your room." He gestured to a sheepish looking security guard leaning awkwardly against the wall with the handle of his suitcase in his hand. The man had a round, friendly face with piercing blue eyes and thicker lips. He looked older than most of the security guards and far more personable than the younger I'm-so-hot-because-I'm-buff-and-I get-to-wear-a-staff-shirt type that usually swarmed around Farra.

"Why?" I turned my attention back to Tak. He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not safe for you to be alone in a room that's easy to reach like this." The security guy offered. He sounded embarrassed.

"Thank you." I said, genuinely meaning it. He nodded with a tiny smile.

"We have an early morning." Tak reminded as he handed my room key to the guard and took off down the hall. With an eye roll, I jogged to catch up with him, my bag bouncing across the floor as I went.

I didn't catch all the way up with him until I got to the elevator. It took forever making it back down to the first floor, which made me nervous; being in a slow elevator with Tak just wasn't appealing. At least waiting for it to get there wasn't too bad; he had pulled out his phone and was now completely distracted. Again. I don't care if he is the best technology inventor of his generation; he needs an intervention.

I let out a sigh of relief as the stainless steel doors finally slid open. Tak wandered in without looking up from his text. I rolled my eyes and walked to other side, settling in against the side panel. I was decently comfortable leaning my face against the cool metal until I saw Tak's arm extending over towards me. I had flashback of getting slammed into the locker room wall and flinched violently, quickly moving out of the way.

He gave me an unreadable look as he pushed the elevator button and I felt embarrassed. Attempting to cover that up, I found a spot in the corner to stare at. Unfortunately Tak didn't do the same. I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head and it was making me jittery.

"Did you get the itinerary?" He asked after a long moment of silence.

"Yes." I responded simply. He glanced at the floor for a second, but then to my annoyance, his eyes went right back to me. I glanced at the floor numbers in the top corner and down at the lighted button to see I still had six to go. I could make it.

The elevator doors finally opened and I practically sprinted out, leaving him in the elevator on the other side of the closing doors. Or so I thought. I made it four feet before my suitcase handle was pulled out of my hand and my carry on was pulled off of my shoulder. Tak walked around me at his usual galloping pace and I was left fuming. Why couldn't he just go away? All I wanted was to be by myself and take a shower and go to bed.

I was so tired I was pouting like a three year old by the time I made it to the door Tak was standing beside. He pulled a key out of his back pocket and unlocked the door for me before walking in and placing my bags down. I sat down on the nearest bed and waited for him to leave, but all he did was stand there awkwardly.

"I confirmed your story." He murmured. I nodded jerkily. "Tomorrow , over lunch with Farra, your contract will be established and the terms of your long-term employment will be drawn out, not just an unpaid internship."

My heart sank at the words "long term". This was everything I'd ever wanted being handed to me, but I wasn't sure if it was safe for me to stay there. Tak apparently noticed my hesitation as he began shift his weight, waiting for an answer.

"We don't have time for lunch tomorrow." I muttered in reply, remembering the schedule. He rolled his eyes.

"You're a fool if you don't take this opportunity." He stated before walking out.

He was right, but what if this contract was drawn up in a way where he practically owned me? Highly possible considering the amount of hours I would have to spend around him being his personal assistant and intern. Was selling my soul to the freaking devil on earth for a job opportunity really worth the hell I would be living in? Yes, because it was the only shot I had at being taken seriously in this industry.

**AN: Finals are coming up so this is the last update for a while. I said Tak would be more likeable and I lied. Eventually he will, though. **


	5. Day 4: Signing the Contract in Blood

At noon, Tak dragged me away from my work and into the Lemkova suite. It was nothing like the suite in Chicago; it was a narrow and far away from the arena. It was sparsely decorated with a few couches and an outdated coffee table that looked like it used to reside in the champion's suite. Farra looked out of place on a cheaper black leather couch surrounded by magazines ranging from time to _Time _to _Extreme Robotics_. She had on an expensive neon blue mini dress and five inch Jimmy Choo stilettos. Her long hair was swept back away from her sharp face in a sleek pony tail. She had a serious expression on her face as she read off of the tablet in her hands.

That changed when the door slid closed behind us. A thin, scheming smile split her face as she looked both of us over. Without speaking, she stood and led us into an office. It was clean, but it had absolutely no personality. It didn't fit with the sleek, modern style that Sergei Lemkova, and now his daughter, was famous for.

"I realize you do not have much time, so I will get right to business." Farra began as she fluidly slid behind her desk and elegantly gestured to the couch in front of her.

Timidly I sat on the edge of the cushion under her eagle eyed gaze. Tak lazily strolled between us and took a seat on the other end of the couch. He immediately pulled out his phone and began playing a game. I glanced over at him in annoyance and saw that, even though his fingers were flying over the games controls, his eyes were actually focused on us.

"I have a one year contract with Lemkova Corporation. I believe that with the growth the company is about to experience we could use you. You are being hired as Tak Mashido's personal assistant. You will handle whatever he needs, and, if there is a time when you are not needed with him, you will work for me." She stated professionally in her clipped accent.

"As I'm sure you have noticed, nothing you have handled has been confidential." She continued. "When you sign this contract, you agree to complete secrecy. I don't care if you are under penalty of perjury, this company will take action against you if you choose to reveal one of its secrets."

She pulled a stack of papers in a tan folder out of her desk drawer and dropped it in front of her. It landed on the polished desk with a snap. My heart sank as I saw how thick it was. I had to handle a lot of random loose ends for Tak while he made sure Zeus got off the truck safely. I literally only had twenty minutes at the most before I had to get back to unpacking and preparing his work room. There was absolutely no way I could read the massive stack of papers in that time.

Unsure of what else to do, I grabbed the papers and started flipping through it. My pay was clearly outlined up front and a lot higher than I thought it would be. I quickly realized why when I saw the broad range of positions she could possibly ask me to fill if I was ever needed. Also clearly stated was the fact that I gave up my right to sue the company. Basically, for at least the entire year my contract specified, Farra owned me.

But wasn't this what I had always wanted? Wasn't that what I had fought for against hundreds of other engineering graduates? I had spent my years at MIT locked in a library surrounded by texts books dreaming of this opportunity. I had endured years of my parents' scorn when I told them I was pursuing engineering instead of law. No one had thought I could make it, but here I was, sitting in Farra Lemkova's office next to Tak freaking Mashido having second thoughts about working with the greatest robot boxing team the world had ever seen.

It was just one year: twelve months, 52.1 weeks, 365 days. That was a long time, but if I took it one day at time, it wouldn't be that bad. Tak was terrified of having someone else observe his life that closely and in that much detail and would always be difficult, but as long as I didn't put my nose where it wasn't wanted, then he should warm up to me. If he was absolutely unbearable, then Farra could probably use me in another facet of the Lemkova Corporation and it would still be on my resume.

One year and I would have every door open that I ever wanted. I would have job opportunities from other teams, the news stations would ignore the rumors that that pig spread about me, and I would have enough knowledge of how the game worked to make my own bot and try to sell it to a team like Tak had done.

Before I knew what was happening, my hand had reached out for the pen on Farra's desk and took it, running my fingers over the cold metal. I flicked through a few more pages, but none of the words sunk in; my brain was too filled with thoughts of the sports report ten years from now proclaiming my bot as the WRB champion.

Still high on the adrenaline from that mental image, I signed my name on the line indicated by a neon green sticky note.

"Welcome to the team, Ms. Hatton." Farra spoke quietly as she gathered my contract and tucked it back into the folder.

The high faded when the folder disappeared back into the drawer. I had no idea what the rest of that contract said. My heart sank as a bunch of worst-case scenarios ran through my mind. What had I just gotten myself into?

**AN: Sorry this chapter is super rushed; I've been trying to get it out to y'all for a long time, but I have a massively busy schedule and I'm having trouble finding time and energy to write. Because everything's been hectic, writing has been very frustrating for me. As a result of this frustration, I deleted most of my in progress stories and almost deleted my entire account.**

**I decided to save this, but if it's not getting read, then I'm just going to put up a one shot with what would have been the end of this.**

**The next chapter might be out soon. This was a necessary chapter to show more of Piper's mental processes, but honestly I didn't have fun writing it. There's about to be a time skip so it should be easier to write. **

**I did have some questions about Reel Steel: what is the name of Farra Lemkova's company and is her character OOC here? Also, if anyone catches any grammar errors, could you point it out? I've always struggled with grammar, but I feel like it's getting worse. **


	6. Day 43: Belzebub Drives a Hard Bargain

** Day 43**

"Mail's here." I called as I stepped into Tak's office and pulled the door shut behind me. He didn't look up from his tablet, but he did cock his head to the side slightly; a gesture I had learned washis code for 'I'm listening'.

I had learned a lot of Tak's little quirks in the month that I had worked for him. He wasn't as hard to figure out as I first thought. He was a very quiet, still man; he hated being disturbed. He arrived at the arena, workshop, or Lemkova Corporation branch office hours before everyone else, locked himself in whatever room he was spending the day in, and then left when it was late and almost everyone had cleared out.

I rarely ever saw him; he gave me my instructions for the day when I met him at the entrance at the morning, and then sent me off on my way. Every once in a while, he would show up and throw me some ridiculous engineering challenge, but that was pretty rare.

"Three letters from Tokyo, one from the manufacturing company that does parts, one from the software company, and—" I stopped flipping through the letters as a blush spread across my face. "One from Playboy."

His eyebrow shot up at the last one. He extended his hand for the letter and I dropped it into his open palm. He snatched the letter opener off his desk and slashed the top of the envelope. His forehead scrunched as read through the letter.

"It's for you." He finally said as he dropped it in front of me. Sure enough, Piper Hatton was the name the letter was addressed to. My stomach did a flip as my eyes widened in shock.

"Why?" I finally stammered.

"Interview and possibly a spread." He answered blankly.

I reached for the letter, but he picked it up, tore it into several pieces and dropped it into the shredder underneath his desk. My mouth opened and shut like a fish as I tried to force some words out. What the heck? I was so confused.

"You will learn very quickly that publicity is what drives this industry, Ms. Hatton." Tak began slowly, sitting back in his seat. His dark eyes were staring me down and it was making me uncomfortable. "Farra Lemkova is a master of this. She will do anything possible to create attention seats sell, even if that means creating media attention for you and me."

"She can't make me pose naked." I replied firmly.

"She doesn't have to." He deadpanned. "They could digitally edit any photo and it would be virtually undetectable."

"Doesn't that call negative attention to you?" I asked.

I shifted nervously as I considered that possibility. It wasn't difficult to edit a picture. Plus, I had virtually no rights because of my contract; that had miraculously not been an issue, but now I was starting to seeing how much of an issue it could be. I could bring up a law suit saying that it was unconstitutional-which it was—but then it would probably keep me from getting a job with another team and give me enough bad press to scare of any future backers.

"Not necessarily." He answered after a lot of thought. "Everyone loves a scandal, and that is exactly what the magazines will report."

"The hot-desperate-intern-has –affair-with-rich-boss angle is so over used." I scoffed as I sat heavily in the leather chair in front of his desk. Tak made a noise of agreement in the back of his throat. "How do people outside the Zeus team even know I'm working for you? I could be doing any job for the team, and why them? Why not a tabloid?" I rambled.

"The photographer that photographed Zeus for _Wired _magazine used to shoot for them." He replied smoothly.

"How do you know?" I asked suspiciously.

"When simple minded people attempt to start conversations they say things they hope are impressive." His lip curled up as he remembered the annoying photographer. Now that he mentioned it, I remembered him too. He was absolutely repulsive.

"It's only a matter of time before that story gets reported and blown massively out of proportion." I predicted. "The good thing is they have no proof, and any member of the Zeus team will testify that the claim is completely ridiculous."

"You're too naïve to make it as a journalist." He deadpanned.

"No, I'm not." I insisted as I stacked his mail in the appropriate files. He made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat, then fell silent again.

"No photographer could make it back into the Zeus offices or the workrooms where you stay. Even if they could, I'm only in the same room with you long enough to hand you something or get my next assignment. I haven't done anything to put myself in the public eye, so aside from one creepy photographer that tried to hit on me while I held your coat, no one even knows I'm working for you." I reasoned.

"I also suspect your friends on the security team would be more than happy to throw out someone that annoyed you." He replied passively. I raised an eyebrow at him in question, but he didn't look up from his tablet.

"How would a tabloid story like that be handled?" I asked him. His lips pressed together in thought.

"A statement would be issued stating the contrary and you would be moved to one of the Lemkova Corporation's offices as far away from me as possible." He answered after a moment of silence.

"Good." I replied with a smile. "I was expecting to be fired." I told him as turned and walked out of the office.

Tak's words echoed in my head as I shut the door behind me, and I suddenly felt very nervous about signing that contract with Farrah. Her father was known for his ruthlessness when it came to business, and I didn't doubt that she would manipulate me if it was in her best interest. I really hoped that she wouldn't get the bright idea to use my personal life as publicity.

"Piper."

_Speak of the devil._

Farrah's icy cold voice cut through the empty suite. I jumped at the sound and spun around to find her lounging on an expensive white leather couch with her back to me.

"Yes, mam?" I asked her hesitantly.

"Come here." She extended her hand towards a chair directly beside her.

Hesitantly, I picked my way around the couch and perched on the edge of the chair. She ignored me for a little longer as she read something on her phone, but then she fixed me in a steady, soul piercing gaze.

"Have you been enjoying your employment here?" She asked me seriously.

"Yes. I have very much." I told her slowly. A satisfied look spread across her face. It reminded me of a cobra that had trapped a mouse.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure you know that we in the Zeus team have been planning on challenging the current champion for the Real Steel championship." Her face glowed with pride. "After we win, things will change for the team."

"Yes, mam." I said to fill the awkward silence that was left when she suddenly paused.

"I would like for you to join this company as something more than an intern. I will extend your contract to two years and raise your salary to six figures." She told me bluntly. My jaw dropped. "You have the versatility to work on either the business aspect or the technical, and that is something that we could use."

"Thank you for such a generous offer." I began slowly. Her eyes narrowed like a snake when she heard my nervous tone. My heart jumped in my throat as a nervous blush rose up my neck and onto my face; it was the only color on my now pale cheeks. Farrah was terrifying and the thought of working under her thumb for two years scared the hell out of me.

"But—" She pushed for me to continue. In her accent, it sounded like a hiss.

"But two years is a very long time. I-I—" I faltered under her gaze. In two years I was supposed to be finished with my own robot. I couldn't say that to her obviously; her finding out she was training the future competition would not go over well.

"You," She stressed the first word. "Have the opportunity of a lifetime served to you on a platter. Zeus will need to be adapted to meet the needs of the ever changing sport. You could take your chance on your own without _sponsors_, or you could have a very big part in working on a proven winner, and possibly on the next Lemkova Corporation champion." She stressed the word 'sponors' with a different inflection than she did 'you'. Instead of a threat, she was making it a bribe.

Farrah Lemkova as a sponsor and Tak as a mentor; this was literally every engineering student's wet dream. An opportunity like this was invaluable. It was amazing. It was impossible to let go; if I did, I'd always regret it.

Unable to form words with her staring me down, I nodded. A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips.

"Good. Now go fetch Tak for me. I want to look over Zeus before our next press conference." She told me with a flip of her hand in dismissal. Still in shock at her offer, I stood and shuffled away to Tak's door.


End file.
